Liverpool legend: Arsenal, Man United and Chelsea will reach the Champions League last 16

With Manchester City already through following a solid European display, the pressure now lies on the other Premier League clubs to progress to the knockout stages.

For Manchester United and Chelsea the task is reasonable, considering the Reds are top of their group and Jose Mourinho’s men are second in the table, and Murphy believes the Champions League could turn their season’s around.

“Manchester City are already through, and while Manchester United aren’t scoring a lot of goals, they’re such a hard team to beat at the moment. They’re really good defensively, so I think they’re going through as well,” said Murphy on talkSPORT.

“With Chelsea, I’m not sure the win over Kiev was the turning point for their season, but it’s certainly a small step in the right direction.

“The Champions League is crucial for Chelsea, and crucial for Roman Abramovich, but the key now is taking that confidence in to their next game and start to build momentum. If they do that I can see Chelsea going through as well.”

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CONFIDENCE: Murphy is backing the English sides to do well this season

“So it all boils down to Olympiakos away – can they win that to go through? Of course they can”

Danny Murphy

Arsenal, however, face the mammoth task of qualifying after finding themselves at the bottom of the table with just three points from four games.

Arsene Wenger’s side must beat Dinamo Zagreb, beat Olympiakos by two goals and other results to go in their favour, but Murphy believes Arsenal have the quality to go through.

“Arsenal need one result to go their way, which is Olympiakos at Bayern Munich. That’s a no-brainer for me, the Greeks will have no chance in Munich because Bayern will want to top the group,” said the ex-Liverpool star.

“Then it’s just in Arsenal’s hands – can they win two games? They’ve got a home tie against Zagreb, and while they lost against them in their first game, it’s at home this time so Arsenal should beat them comfortably. It shouldn’t even be a difficult game.

“So it all boils down to Olympiakos away – can they win that to go through? Of course they can beat them, but they’ll have to win by two clear goals.

“But if Munich do the job, and Arsenal don’t win their last two games they would not deserve to do through.”

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